Regulatory News
ECB’s Cipollone backs digital euro, Pontes and Appia
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the bank is preparing a digital euro, Pontes and Appia as central bank money moves further into digital finance.
- Cipollone said the ECB is preparing a digital euro for retail payments.
- Pontes was launched on 21 September to settle tokenised transactions in central bank money.
- The ECB aims to be ready for a potential first digital euro issuance in 2029, if legislation is concluded by end-2026.
Action
Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB Executive Board, said the central bank is extending money into the digital environment while preserving the two-tier monetary system.
He said the ECB’s answer is a digital euro for retail payments, Pontes for wholesale tokenised transactions and Appia to shape the wider digital finance ecosystem.
Respondents
The speech named banks, payment service providers, merchants, market infrastructures, issuers and investors as part of the planned ecosystem.
Cipollone said the ECB has signed agreements with the European Card Payment Cooperation, nexo standards and the Berlin Group on digital euro technical standards.
Effective
Cipollone said the digital euro pilot is planned to begin in the second half of 2027 and run for 12 months.
He said the ECB will only decide whether to issue a digital euro after legislation is adopted. If the legislative process is fully concluded by end-2026, the ECB aims to be ready for a potential first issuance in 2029.
He also said the Eurosystem launched Pontes on 21 September and aims to deliver an Appia blueprint in 2028. Full Pontes implementation is expected by mid-2028.
Penalty
No penalty was announced.
Cipollone said the digital euro is being designed with individual holding limits and would not be remunerated. He said detailed analysis assessed hypothetical holding limits from €500 to €3,000, and that the figures are illustrative and do not represent a decision on the eventual holding limit.
Source: ECB,